Posts Tagged ‘#wbc10’

2010 Wine Blog Awards Winners!

July 2, 2010

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2010 Wine Blog Awards! A truly excellent crop of offerings showcasing an extraordinary range of styles and content.

That said, and alas, while I am extremely proud to have been nominated in our first year of blog existence, we did not in fact take home the trophy. But, I will confess to being rather charmed by the fact that it was another Santa Cruz-area blog that did so; a nice little nod to our nice little region …

Anyhow, cheers to all, and here is the list of the awardees; I encourage you all to check these sites out, this is a fine sampling of what most definitely constitutes the gold standard for contemporary wine writing:

Best Wine Blog Graphics, Photography, & Presentation: Good Grape

Best Industry/Business Wine Blog: Criteria: Good Grape

Best Wine Reviews on a Wine Blog: Bigger Than Your Head

Best Single Subject Wine Blog: Criteria: New York Cork Report

Best Winery Blog: Criteria: Been Doon So Long

Best Writing On a Wine Blog: Catavino

Best New Wine Blog: Criteria: Swirl, Smell Slurp

Best Overall Wine Blog: Criteria: 1 Wine Dude

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#WBC10, The Slideshow!

July 1, 2010

 

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#WBC 10, Some Words Of Writing Wisdom From Meg Houston Maker …

June 27, 2010

Delivered in a panel today, some rather fine words of wisdom as regards writing, from Meg Houston Maker:

Writing is thinking, and thinking is hard

Assume limitless intelligence in your reader, but no prior knowledge.

Tell a story that nobody else can tell.

Ask yourself questions, and pose questions to your reader.

If you write on behalf of a business, remember that organizations don’t talk, people talk.

Get to the point, and condense your prose.

The stronger your position, the more sober your prose.

Exclamation points should be reserved for exclamatory remarks.

If you don’t know something, you may need to find out.

Put everything about a subject in one place, and texture your prose.

Generate questions in your reader’s mind. If you can keep your reader asking why, they’ll keep reading.

If you’re doing things right, your voice will evolve.

Learn to work with an editor, because a good editor is on your side.

You need a good ending, but not a clever ending, and don’t try and trick your reader, because they’ll never forgive you.

“One of the most unique and beautiful of acts, you will have penetrated another person’s mind. (On what it is you’ve done when you’ve created great writing …)

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Posted in Events & Photographs | 2 Comments »

Wine Blog Awards, 2010, Opening Ceremonies!

June 25, 2010

#WBC10, Opening Ceremonies, The Video!

(Hard to tell in the dark, but the glowing white thing under the lights? Ice sculpture!)

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Heimoff, The Bums, The Snobs, and #WBC10

June 25, 2010

“… a slightly suspect beverage consumed by skid row bums and snobs …”

Per Steve Heimoff, this was the world of wine that he came to as a novice back in the day … and I’m thinking, fantastic! What happened to that world?

(pic below is Mr. Heimoff in the middle of giving his keynote speech at the 2010 Wine Blogger’s Conference, otherwise known as #wbc10)

At heart, other than my father, I learned to drink wine from The Beats. Wine went with wild poetry readings, and mountain meditation sessions. Wine went with trains, and camping. Wine sometimes went with nothing other than, well, wine. Just wine. And mainly, wine went with people. It was living with people, in a memorable way. Being where you were, and demanding nothing less that an exhilarating devotion to the moment …

From my father (the true architect of my personal house of wine), a professor of literary criticism rooted in an Italian Marxist tradition, I also learned that wine goes with lividly vibrant political arguments between hairy professors wearing plaid sportcoats with leather elbows, or strangely somber yet passionate poetry readings headed up my bespectacled and shambolic graduate students. And I especially learned that wine goes with family. “At table.” One of my favorite phrases of all time.

This past Father’s Day, my father and I shared a moment over the phone, a moment in which we each gave love to one other as fathers, and we capped it with each of us opening, double-decanting, and drinking a 375ml bottle of 2006 Monte Bello. Just fantastic.

So as far as I’m concerned, Snobs? Skid row bums? You’re all welcome at my table!

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#WBC10, the first morning …

June 25, 2010

Well, I must say, I’ve already had quite a morning! I wasn’t here more than ten minutes before I found myself in a heavy socio-politcal convo with wine blogger Amy Cleary (winebookgirl.com) and Steve Heimoff, who’ll be giving the keynote speech later today. Not a bad start, though my Riesling did get unfortunately warm over the duration of the convo!

From there I moved through a number of Washington State white wines, including some Dry Riesling from Canoe Ridge …

Some Fume Blanc from the perhaps contextually ubiquitous but always deliciously reliable Hogue …

A dry Riesling from Kiona …

 

A Pinot Gris from Tranche …

And another Fume Blanc, this time from one of my long-time favorite Washington producers, Barnard Griffin …

and I have to confess, I broke my white varietals first rule for BG, and also sampled their Rose of Sangiovese, which I loved!

After that, I was interviewed by the folks from the very wonderful WineBizRadio, which I must say, was quite an honor, particularly as I followed the inimitable Hardy Wallace (he of the Dirty South Wine Blog and the Very Goode Job); meaning my segment will probably be cut!

I also (finally!) got to meet Meg Houston Maker (she of Maker’s Table), and I just bumped into Andrea Robinson, who amongst all her other astonishing achievements, has also been a most welcome and exalted guest to Monte Bello on numerous recent occasions.

So rather than feeling like a stranger in a strange land, it turns out I’ve had lovely conversations with all sorts of folks, so cheers to the event, and all its attendees, for making me feel so welcome!

As to the wines themselves, tasting notes to come soon, but in general, I’ve been very impressed with the degree of minerality to be found in these wines across the board, and the seemingly universal and judicious application of oak is also most appreciated; even the Fume Blancs seem to be balanced, integrated, and harmonious.

I should note too, by the way, that the missus and I very much enjoyed a Pinot Gris from Mercer Estates last night (who have a nifty little Ridge connection; do you know of what I speak?) …

Anyhow, more soon!

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